The Agile Manifesto

framework · computer science · organizing-schema

2001 declaration of values and principles for adaptive software development.

The Agile Manifesto for Software Development was authored by seventeen software practitioners — including Kent Beck, Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, James Grenning, Jim Highsmith, Andrew Hunt, Ron Jeffries, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Robert C. Martin, Steve Mellor, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, and Dave Thomas — at a 2001 retreat in Snowbird, Utah, where they sought common ground among the various lightweight methodologies they had each been developing (XP, Scrum, Crystal, FDD, ASD, DSDM, and others). The manifesto comprises four value statements expressing preference rather than absolute opposition (each format X over Y, with the sentence 'while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more'): Individuals and interactions over processes and tools; Working software over comprehensive documentation; Customer collaboration over contract negotiation; Responding to change over following a plan. The manifesto is supported by twelve principles articulated separately. The Agile Manifesto did not invent the methodologies it synthesized — Scrum (Schwaber-Sutherland 1995) and XP (Beck 1996-1999) preceded it — but it provided a unifying vocabulary that catalyzed the broader Agile movement. Original signatories have been notably critical of subsequent commercial 'Agile' practices that they argue contradict the manifesto's spirit.

Originators

Seventeen Snowbird signatories: Kent Beck, Mike Beedle, Arie van Bennekum, Alistair Cockburn, Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, James Grenning, Jim Highsmith, Andrew Hunt, Ron Jeffries, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Robert C. Martin, Steve Mellor, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, Dave Thomas high

Year / Decade

February 2001 (Snowbird meeting) high

Primary sources

Beck, K. et al. (2001). Manifesto for Agile Software Development (agilemanifesto.org), Beck, K. et al. (2001). Twelve Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto high

Core components

Four value statements (each X over Y)
Twelve supporting principles
Synthesis of preceding lightweight methodologies (XP, Scrum, Crystal, FDD, ASD, DSDM)
Snowbird Lodge meeting context
Subsequent disclaimer-style 'while there is value in the items on the right' formulation
Critique by original signatories of subsequent commercial Agile practices

Primary use case

Foundational vocabulary and values for the broader Agile movement; reference for distinguishing genuine agile development from compliance-style 'Agile'; teaching framework in software engineering education; rallying document for software-craftsmanship communities; basis for evaluating subsequent agile frameworks (SAFe, LeSS, etc.) against the original spirit.

Common criticisms

Original signatories including Andy Hunt, Dave Thomas, and Ron Jeffries have been notably critical of commercial 'Agile' practices that grew up around the manifesto, with Thomas's 'Agile is Dead' (2014) and Jeffries's 'Developers Should Abandon Agile' (2018) being particularly sharp
the four value statements have been overinterpreted as absolute rejections of process, documentation, contracts, and planning
commercial certification industry (SAFe, Scrum, etc.) has largely captured 'Agile' branding in ways that critics argue contradict the manifesto's principles
the manifesto's software-development context has been stretched to organizational and cultural transformations beyond its original scope
principles are aspirational and don't specify how to achieve their preferences in concrete situations.

Lineage

Siblings: Scrum, Extreme Programming, Lean Startup